Disaster Recovery Drills Aren't Just For IT
The Economist has a short but great overview on crisis management. The article is well worth reading completely, but there is one section that bears highlighting:
Be well prepared in advance. Potential members of a crisis management “team” should rehearse how they would manage the impact of an incident. It is a bit like learning the safety instructions on a plane before take-off: you hope you will never need them, but you know it would be unwise to miss the lesson. The team should include the chief executive and a representative of the press office. Thereafter, all external enquiries relating to a crisis should be answered by the team.
It’s amazing how often this step gets left out of business continuity plans and it is probably the most important. I heartily encourage all executives to not just plan but practice practice practice. This is the sort of thing that can really bite you hard at just the wrong time.
You’re absolutely right and your site visitors can find a LOT of free information on crisis preparedness on the Articles page and in back issues of my free newsletter, both at http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com.
Jonathan Bernstein
President
Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc.